


Two Minutes Worth

by ThoseDaysThatWill



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Baby Fic, M/M, Winnipeg Jets, so sweet it will rot your teeth, this is the fluffiest fluff I have ever written in my life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-09 22:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20517239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoseDaysThatWill/pseuds/ThoseDaysThatWill
Summary: Sami laughed, taking a couple steps towards the door, "Emmi? Come out here."An excited squeak came from the house, so loud it carried right out the door. It was followed by the pitter-patter of very small running feet and the occasional clomp of the hockey stick when it knocked into some furniture. Having arrived at the front door with as much noise as she could possibly manage, she announced, "Shhh, the baby is sleeping!"Ben shook his head, "Well, I'm sure he was."





	Two Minutes Worth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katielynn94](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katielynn94/gifts).

> This is set during the Summer of 2024, somewhere in Canada.
> 
> This is for Katie whose birthday is today (September 4th). HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you so much! I couldn't write you anything other than the fluffiest fluff, but I also have another silly piece in the works, but it will take longer. 
> 
> All Finnish is Google Translate, but I did my best.

The noon sun was hot, but the breeze was cool enough that being outside all day was a pleasure. They were both starting to think that they should have bought a more expensive model, maybe one that was metal and came assembled, but this one seemed like a good place to start. They had both shared stories of the terrible pieces of junk they used to practice with when they were kids. The beat up rusty frame they'd drag onto the frozen pond, the taped outlines on the garage door, or the cellar wall, the cheap model that always sat kind of askew no matter how hard you adjusted it. The hours and hours spent shooting pucks and picking corners and dreaming of doing what they got to do every day.

Ben sat on the driveway, the heat from the sun-baked pavement seeping through his jeans, as he wrestled with yanking the netting over the plastic frame. They had been trading stories, and he continued with his, "When I was a little older, the last one off the rink had to drag the nets off. It was usually me. The one close to the zamboni door was fine, but the other one was always a pain. One time, I'm hauling it down the ice, trying to hurry because no one wants to be the last one changed, and this figure skater comes whipping across the ice and slams right into the net. Broke his nose, hit the crossbar square in the face, no idea how. Those nets were sturdy as all hell." Satisfied with the results of his project, he stood the plastic net upright. It came up to his hip but stood flat on the driveway. "See? It looks fine." Maybe it looked a little wonky, but it was good enough. He put bricks on the back corners and stood up, "How does it look to you?"

Sami tilted his head to the side, "Like a rectangle at least. So... better than it was."

Ben rolled his eyes, "I didn't see you offering to help."

He grinned, "I was _supervising_. I'll reward you for your hard work later."

Ben groaned, "Go get our daughter before we don't get _anything _else done today."

Sami laughed, taking a couple steps towards the door, "Emmi? Come out here."

An excited squeak came from the house, so loud it carried right out the door. It was followed by the pitter-patter of very small running feet and the occasional clomp of the hockey stick when it knocked into some furniture. Having arrived at the front door with as much noise as she could possibly manage, she announced, "Shhh, the baby is sleeping!"

Ben shook his head, "Well, I'm sure he _was_."

Sami ushered her outside and closed the door behind her, "You can be as loud as you want out here. Come see what Daddy's done." He gestured her to the driveway

Another loud squeak echoed down the road, "My net! Se on korjattu!" She bounced up to it, two dark fishtail braids bouncing after her. She gently patted the goalpost, "Good net, you're all better!" Ben and Sami exchanged a look. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between 'normal four year old' and 'future goalie'. Sometimes there wasn't one. She continued talking, "Now, net, you hafta stay not bork'ed, okay? Meidän on pelattava jääkiekkoa!" She brandished her stick excitedly. She had been raised bilingual and didn't see much reason _not_ to go back and forth between languages.

Sami dropped the plush puck in front of her, stepping on it to make sure she couldn't shoot a surprise shot. They'd both been hit by plenty of those. They might not hurt too much, but they were jarring. Emmi enjoyed the game, but her aim left something to be desired. "You ready?"

She looked between her parents, "Isi is the goalie!"

Sami sighed, "I think it's Daddy's turn." He grabbed the child-sized goalie stick from where it had been leaning against the house. The Jets decals had almost completely worn off from use.

Emmi shook her head, "Ei. Your turn!"

Ben laughed, "You want the mask?" The goalie mask had been a birthday gift for Emmi from one of their teammates, It was still too big for her, but she was promised that she'd grow into it. For weeks, she wore it everywhere she went, but lately it had been relegated to the nightstand beside her bed. Ben was glad that she seemed to be getting over her goalie phase. It was mercifully short-lived.

Sami shook his head, kneeling down in front of the net, "No, but I'm wondering if I should go get my jock..." He muttered.

Emmi picked her head up at that, "What's a jock?"

Ben snorted a laugh and Sami shot him a look. He looked back at his daughter, softly, "It's something boys wear when they play sports."

"Do you needta get it?" She asked, innocently.

Sami smiled, "I think I'll be okay."

"I need those parts, it'd be bad if you damaged them." Ben could barely contain the laugh.

Sami gave him another _look_, "If you want anything to do with those parts, you need to behave."

Ben held up his hands and said nothing, but the look in his eyes did plenty of talking.

Emmi huffed, "Daddy! You gotta do the face-off!" She sighed, very dramatically pushing stray hairs out of her eyes, "Defensemans never take one face-off even one time. But we don't have not even one forward." She pointed in turn to each of them, "Yksi. Kaksi. Kolme. _Kolme _defensemans!"

Ben grabbed the child-sized stick identical to the one that Emmi was holding and knelt down beside her, "I'll do the best I can, okay?"

She gave him a long-suffering sigh, "You never win one face-off, not ever. Mark-setä do's it better."

"_Does _it better. And that's relative." Ben bit his lip to not snicker.

"Mitä?" Emmi gave him a confused look.

"I do _some_ things better than Uncle Mark." He pointed out, ignoring the _look _Sami was giving him, again.

Emmi considered this for a moment, "Joo... like go-to-sleep stories ja halauksia. But not faceoffs."

Ben had to admit sometimes their daughter's Finnglish gave him whiplash, but he could follow it well enough. Some speech and language whatever that they'd talked to said it was just her way of testing out both languages as she mastered speech, that it was normal and she'd sort it all out on her own eventually. It wasn't that he minded it, but his brain couldn't switch back and forth as quickly as hers could. At this point he'd _barely _call himself fluent, and more often than not, his in-depth conversation attempts were met with looks that could have been better conveyed by a pat on the head.

"I'll take that tradeoff." He placed the puck between them, "Are you ready?"

She nodded, getting herself into position, imitating the form of the forwards she watched everyday. Ben tried to mimic her stance as best he could, and despite the fact that he had actually attempted a faceoff or two in his life (though sure as hell not during a _real _game), he always felt a little silly. Emmi looked at him and sighed, "Daddy, that's not how you do it." She adjusted his hands, moving him until his position looked right, at least to her. She shook her head a little, giving him a 'will you never learn?' look and Ben could hear Sami's giggles behind him. He resisted the urge to flip him off, knowing that would just earn another sigh from his daughter because she'd have to 'fix' him again.

She took her position, "Valmis.... aseta.... mene!" At her own signal she hit the puck as hard as she could. Ben's stick moved just a little too late and he missed it completely. Somehow, Emmi _always _won the face-offs. The puck didn't go far, though, and she squeaked and ran after it, hitting it again and again, towards the net. Every time, Ben was just a little too slow to stop her. She looked back at him, "I beat you, Daddy!" She giggled, "Aion tehdä maalin!"

Ben laughed, "Not if I can stop you!" Attempting to follow her while kneeling wasn't an act, he really was much slower than she was on her own two feet. But all the same, he chased her down the driveway, 'missing' the puck each and every time. A few steps from the net, she stopped and threw her hip into his shoulder. "Oof!" He groaned, toppling over to lay on the pavement. "You got me good."

She flashed a brilliant smile, "I checked you! I checked you!" She sing-songed. She turned her attention back to the puck, bringing it to a stop about a foot from Sami, "Now I'm gonna score!"

Sami grinned, "You can try, but I might stop you!"

She inched the puck closer and closer, and Ben watched Sami shift to the left, to give her about half the net to shoot at. She wound up for her shot and took it, knocking herself over in the process. As the puck was flying towards the net, some part of Sami's well-trained and instinctual brain overrode the part that was playing with their four-year-old. His hand shot out and knocked the puck aside. In the second after realizing what he'd done, he winced, shaking his head.

Emmi stared at him, _shocked, _her eyes wide and her mouth open. Ben, who was still laying sprawled out behind her, dropped his head to his arm to muffle the laughter. She put both her hands on her hips, "_ISI!" _She snapped, "You _saved _it! You're not a maalivahti!"

Sami tried to look apologetic, "Anteeksi, kullanmuru. I didn't mean to."

With a huff, she marched over and picked up the puck from where it had landed in the lawn. Very deliberately, she brought it back to where she'd taken her shot from and placed it down on the pavement. "That's a... rang..." She narrowed her eyes at him, as if it was his fault she couldn't think of the word. "Rang... aistu... spotku!"

Ben couldn't contain the laughter at that, flopping over onto his back, squeezing his eyes shut. This was one of those moments, and he had them every so often, where he couldn't believe that _this _was his life. But yet, here he was, laying on the driveway of the house he shared with the love of his life and their children, listening to his eldest daughter angrily reprimand her father for making a save and then demanding, _in Finnish_, a penalty kick. The fact alone that between he and Emmi, they _both _knew the Finnish word for 'penalty kick' was enough to make him question reality.

Sami bit his lip against the laugh, "Good job with that word. That was right. But... uh, that's for football... For hockey, we say rangaistu_slaukaus_. But that was good, it was very close."

Emmi huffed, "Fine! But it was! And Daddy's gonna do it. He's gonna score on you!" She stomped over to where Ben was laying and squatted down beside him, doing her best impersonation of a whisper, "You gotta score on him good, okay, Daddy?"

Ben grinned up at her, "I'll do my best." He hauled himself up and walked over to where she'd placed the puck, crouching down so the child-sized stick would touch the ground. He glanced up at Sami, waiting for him to reposition himself in a similar crouch. "Scoring on Isi is one of my best skills." Ben flashed a smirk and a wink in his direction just as he hit the puck.

Sami made a half-hearted attempt to stop it, though because he was much too busy staring and blushing, it sailed past him and into the net. "That was cheating. Penalty!"

Ben laughed, moving up closer to him, "Yeah? Well, I better get my two minutes worth." He wrapped his arms around him, and dragged him into a kiss to the sounds of Emmi's goal celebration song.


End file.
